Edward's Day Out (RWS)
'''Edward's Day Out '''is the first story from the book The Three Railway Engines. Plot Edward is the smallest engine in the shed and has not been out for a long time, and the other engines tease him about it. The driver and fireman come and choose Edward instead of the bigger engines, which makes them very cross. Edward collects his coaches and takes them to the station to pick up passengers. They wait for the guard to blow his whistle and wave his flag, but the guard is nowhere to be seen. Eventually he arrives and blows his whistle, and the train sets off. That night Edward boasts to the bigger engines that he will be going out again tomorrow, but soon falls asleep before they have anything to say. Characters * Edward * Gordon (illustrated) * 87546 and 98642 (illustrated) While it had been assumed - and was likely intended by the artists - for the green engine in the sheds to be Henry, the dates later given for the stories in this book make this almost impossible, as The Sad Story of Henry takes place in 1922RWS "The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways" pg. 10 while the rest of the book takes place in 1923, the year that Gordon arrives on Sodor.RWS "The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways" pg. 128 In the William Middleton illustrations, the red engine seen in the sheds in the first illustration is drawn the same way as the engine in The Sad Story of Henry, but the later Dalby artwork gives the two engines unique designs. The driver, the fireman, the coaches, the station-master, the porter, the guard and a little boy also appear. History Edward's Day Out was the first story to be conceived, and started simply as a way for Wilbert to keep his two year-old son Christopher, who was ill in bed with measles, entertained. A rhyme about 'little engines down at the station' was then accompanied by a drawing of the engines, all with different expressions. Christopher asked his father why one engine looked sad, and his father told him that the engine was old and hadn't been out for a long time. When Christopher asked the engine's name, Wilbert used the first name that came into his head - Edward. From here, the story grew and more followed, and Christopher begged his father to tell them over and over again. Christopher soon knew the stories so well that he would correct Wilbert if he ever made mistakes, so Wilbert wrote the stories down on the back of old circulars to make sure he told them correctly.The Thomas the Tank Engine Man (1995) pg. 96-97, 100 In the years that followed the book's publication, Awdry received letters from readers asking about these other engines. Replying to one such letter in 1963, in which the writer identified four of the engines in the illustration - Edward, Gordon, Henry and James - Awdry gave the two remaining blue engines numbers: 87546 and 98642.The Thomas the Tank Engine Man (1995) pg. 110 When the television series started, Edward's Day Out was not adapted as an individual episode, but parts of its plot were included in the episode Edward and Gordon. Gallery Middleton (1945-1949) EdwardsDayOut1Middleton.jpg EdwardsDayOut2Middleton.jpg EdwardsDayOut3Middleton.jpg EdwardsDayOut4Middleton.jpg EdwardsDayOut5Middleton.jpg EdwardsDayOut6Middleton.jpg EdwardsDayOut7Middleton.jpg Dalby (1949-present) EdwardsDayOut7.jpg References }}